Geeks and Greeks
by silver10-21
Summary: Five demigods are chosen for a quest to stop the roman goddess Bellona from convincing the roman demigods to attack camp half-blood. Again. I honestly suck at summaries. First story...hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

The store was bustling with people. I pushed my way through the dense crowd, heading towards the music section.

"_Listen to over 100,000 albums!" _the sign said. Yeah, right. It was only 46,021.

Me and Music. We were an odd pair. I listened to music 24/7. Most of the time it isn't my choice.

I have a problem. I can hear music that other people are listening to. It sounds crazy, I know. But when I'm driving down the road, I can hear music blaring from the ear buds of passing joggers. It's in my head.

When I attempt at telling someone, they think I'm crazy. So, I don't have "friends".

So, I continued shoving my way through the crowd. I didn't know why it was so crowded. It wasn't a holiday...was it?

As I neared the shelves stocked with many albums (my eyes caught on to a certain Nirvana album), I crashed into someone. The cup of coffee he was holding splattered all over my blue t-shirt. We tumbled over each other, and slammed into the ground. I looked up and noticed many eyes were on us, and I quickly pulled myself up. The person I crashed into did the same.

It was a tall, well-fit boy. His eyes, which were a peculiar violet color (was that even possible?), fell on the big stain on my shirt. I looked down at it. The big, brown stain covered half the shirt. It was shaped like a star. Almost like he purposely spilled it like that.

"Damn it," I mumbled. The boy slowly looked back up at me, his purple eyes wide.

"I'm so sorry," the boy started, "I wasn't looking where I was going-"

"It's fine," I interrupted. I honestly didn't want to start a conversation with this boy. "I never really liked this shirt."

I scoffed silently at the lie.

We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.

I cleared my throat. "Well, it was nice running into you..." he smiled and rolled his eyes at my pun. "Will." he finished.

"Will." I said. "Well, bye."

I turned around to walk away, but suddenly Will's hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back.

"What was that for?" I yelled. Suddenly, a huge figure swooped past us. If Will hadn't moved me, I would've been trampled. Will grabbed my hand and yanked me behind a shelf.

The figure, which appeared as an old hag dressed in a pant suit, turned back towards us. It's eyes were pure black, and a mouth full of fangs grinned at us.

"_OOOOH! MORE_ _DEMIGODSSS!" _it hissed. "_YOU WILL BE WONDERFUL SACRIFICESSSS!" _

I looked at Will frantically, as if to say "_What the heck is going on?!_"

"_WILLLLLL!_" the thing said in a horrific sing-song voice. "_COME OUT, COME OUT, AND BRING THE FEMALE HALF-BLOOD WITH YOUUU!_"


	2. Chapter 2

Will stepped out from behind the bookcase

"Will!" I hissed, "Are you crazy?!"

He ignored me. Instead, he stuck out his hand. A purple flash of light flew from it and crashed into the hag. The hag tumbled over the shelves behind her. Will grinned at his accomplishment.

The hag started laughing as she pulled herself up. It was this terrible sound of coughing and screaming.

"_YOUR MAGIC WILL NOT WORK THIS TIME, BOY!_" she stood back up. The hag began storming towards Will. Then, an arrow whizzed by and hit her in the forehead. She dissolved into golden sand.

"Nailed it!" whooped a voice from behind me. Will spun around.

"SOLACE! I did not need help!" Will whined. The boy who shot the arrow was much taller than Will. He had golden blonde hair swept across his forehead, and bright blue eyes.

"Well," the boy said, "you were doing a damn fine job." Will rolled his eyes.

The two boys then just seemed realize that we were still in a crowded store. The shoppers began frantically trying to get out. Will grabbed my hand and said, "It won't be much longer until something else comes for us."

"Wait, hold up! What the heck was that thing?! What was she talking about, "half-bloods"? Who the heck are you people?!" I rambled as he pulled me through the crowd.

Will spun around and looked me in the eye. "Just trust me, ok?"

When we finally got outside, Will opened the back door of a white van. He gestured for me to get inside.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah! I can't just get in a car with you! I don't even know you! You could be some crazy kidnapper!"

The other boy rolled his eyes. "There's no time for questions, Ava! Get in!" So I got in.

Am I crazy? Definitely. Did I know what I was doing? Heck, no. But he _knew _my name. I never told it to either of them.

In the back of the van, there were already three other kids.

"That was way more than ten minutes!" A blonde girl with a ponytail pipped up. She holding a book in her lap. I was dyslexic, so I couldn't make out the title.

"Shut up. We need to get out of here fast." Will said as he swerved the car on to the road.

A girl dressed in black shifted in her seat. "All of you guys are completely insane." she mumbled.

"Ok," I said, "I have no clue what's going on, and I have just been kidnapped by two teenaged boys. I would like some answers. Now."

"Um, I'm nineteen. So almost an official adult." the other boy snapped.

Will looked at me in the rear-view mirror.

"Ok, I know this sounds completely insane, but you know the gods from Greek mythology? Well, they're real. And sometimes, they have children with mortals, called "half-bloods" or "demigods". And all of you are demigods. We just don't know who your parents are yet. We are currently taking you to Camp Half-Blood, where people like us can be safe. So, yeah."

We were all quiet. This was pretty insane.

"Umm…" a boy with spiky blonde hair said, "ok?"

"Yes, ok, I know you think we are total idiots. But trust me." Will said.

We were all quiet again.

The other boy twisted around in the passenger seat to look at us.

"You know, you are taking this surprisingly well. The fact that two random guys came, kidnapped you in a white van, and told you that you are kids of the Greek gods, but you are not screaming and trying to call to police is pretty astounding."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Hey Will, remember the last time we were sent to pick up a demigod? When we told her, she ending up fainting and had to be put in a hospital?"

Will scoffed, "Ugh, don't remind me."

I cleared my throat. "Um, I still don't know who you guys are."

"Oh, right!" Will exclaimed. "Totally forgot. I'm Will Simms, and that's Will Solace. Just call him Solace." he said, pointing to the other boy.

"So, you are both Will S.?" the blonde girl said.

Will Simms flipped his black hair out of his eyes with a dramatic flair. "Yes." he said in a superior tone. "But, please, just call him Solace."

Solace looked at us. "Now you." he said, pointing to me.

"Um, I'm Ava." I said sheepishly.

Solace nodded his head. "Good, good. I knew that."

"Then why-"

"I was thinking about the others who have no idea who you are." he said sharply, interrupting me.

The blonde girl with the book spoke next. "I'm Lauren."

"I'm Elliot." the boy with the spiky hair said.

"ELLIOT!" Solace said, "I'm going to call you Ellie!" Elliot just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"And...um...I'm Ewen." the girl in black mumbled.

Solace looked at her. "What is that? Irish?"

Ewen just scowled.

Solace rolled his eyes and turned to look at Will.

"I bet you five drachmas that I can guess their godly parents."

"How could you do that?" Will said without taking his eyes off the road.

"My dad is the god of prophecy. Duh."

Will smirked and continued driving.

Solace turned towards us again.

"Athena." he said pointing to Lauren. He then moved his eyes to Ewen. "Uh, I don't know, Nemesis? I guess." he said. "Hmmm...either Hermes or Apollo," he said, nodding towards Elliot. His eyes fell on me. "Uh…" he hesitated, "Hmm…"

"What's wrong, Solace?" Will smirked, "You having trouble?"

"Shut up, smartass." Solace spat. "Uh, Iris."

Will yelped in laughter. "Iris?! Really?"

"Shut up! I just hope she's not Apollo." Solace slouched in his seat.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you're cute, and I can't date my sister." He turned around and winked at me. I blushed.

"Gods, Solace." Will said.

We all fell silent. Solace put in earbuds. My head was filled with the sound of Led Zeppelin as we drove to Camp Half-Blood. Whatever that place was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello lovely readers! **

**Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoy the fanfic!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Percy Jackson and Olympians. All of that belongs to the magnificent Rick Riordan. I just own my OCs.**

**(BTW: this take place after Heroes of Olympus. Let's just say the two camps made a truce.) **

Chapter 3

We drove in silence. Well, except for me. Everyone had brought their earbuds along, and my head was booming with all different sounds. I almost burst out laughing when I heard Solace listening to Katy Perry.

I noticed Ewen was the only person that wasn't listening to anything. She was hunched over in her seat, fiddling with her Skullcandys. Her long black hair hung down to her waist, and her brown eyes stared off into space. She was the only one that wasn't surprised when we heard abou being demigods. If anything, she seemed as if she already knew about it.

I decided to speak to her. I kept getting this feeling that she knew something I didn't.

"What type of music do you like to listen to?" I asked her.

Her eyes focused on me. A chill ran down my spine. "You seem like the type to know something about music. Like, you have a gift. You tell me what I like. Surprise me."

I didn't move. She defiantly knew something. She knew about me and music. I didn't know what to say. I've never even met this girl.

"You know, I can only hear the music you play when you play it through earbuds. I can't, like, read your mind." It came out before I registered what I was saying.

"Oh. Explain?" she asked in a melancholy voice.

"I can hear music that other people are listening to. It's in my head. Like, right now, my head is exploding with sounds." She only nodded.

"So, what's Elliot listening to?" she asked.

"Um...Daughtry, I think."

"Hey, Elliot!" she said loud enough for Elliot to hear, "What are you listening to?"

Elliot pulling out an earbud and looked at us. "Uh, Daughtry." he put the earbud back in, tuning us out.

Ewen looked back at me with wide eyes. "Woah, that's cool."

Finally, someone didn't think I was crazy.

"But, yeah. I listen to bands like My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco." she said, brushing some hair behind her ear.

"No way! I love Panic! At The Disco! But my favorite is Nirvana." I was starting to get excited.

"Never heard of 'em." Ewen said curiously.

"Oh my god, you must listen to him. He is genius."

And that was how to rest of the ride was. For the first time in forever, I had maybe made an actually friend.

"Alright!" Solace said as he slammed the car door shut. "We hath arrived."

"Uh, where's the camp?" Lauren asked.

She was right. There was nothing around for miles. A large hill towered in front of us, and on the top was an enormous pine tree. I've never seen a pine tree that big in New York. Well, I never got out much.

"We climb!" Will said energetically. He and Solace began climbing up the hill, and the four of us trudged behind them. When we reached the top, we were gazing down at a large camp. There were twelve big cabins, arranged in the shape of the Greek letter omega. There were many smaller cabins off to the side. A large arena was in the center, and a big house with a blue roof was close by.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!" Will exclaimed. He began running down the hill, towards the camp below. We quickly followed. Horns began blowing, and shouts echoed through the camp. "_Will and Solace are back!" "They brought people with them!" "Wait, they didn't screw up this time?"_

We were soon completely surrounded by campers. All of them were wearing orange t-shirts.

There was a buzz of conversation. I said many hellos, (they were all so friendly! Well, except for a few…), and everyone seemed really excited. I glanced over at Ewen and noticed she was staring around the camp with dread. Almost as if she didn't want to be there. I spotted Will walking towards a skinny boy with blonde hair hanging in his eyes.

"Hey, Ava, this is my brother Gabriel. Well, he's not my blood brother, but we are both sons of Hecate, so we are half-brothers. If you get what I'm saying."

"Hecate, huh?" I said, "Isn't she like the goddess of witchcraft?"

Will cringed. "Magic. Goddess of magic. But, yes." I just nodded. I looked back at Gabriel. He was still staring at Ewen, wide-eyed. His orange t-shirt hung on his skinny frame. He had shaggy blonde hair, and purple eyes, just like Will's.

Suddenly, a horse began galloping towards us. Wait, horse-man?

I nudged Will. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Centaur? Yes. That's Chiron. He runs the camp."

The horse-man, Chiron, galloped up.

"Will and Will! It seems you two have actually done it this time!" The campers snickered. "Let's take these new demigods to the Big House. I am sure you are weary from your-"

Everyone silenced. They were all looking at Lauren. I noticed a golden light coming from her head. Above her head floated a golden owl. It disappeared as quickly as is appeared.

"What?" Lauren said, "What are you looking at?"

Everyone knelt down towards her.

Chiron whispered to her, "What is your name?"

"Lauren MacArthur." she whispered back.

Chiron's voice boomed, "All hail Lauren MacArthur, daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom!"

Everyone stood up and cheered. Solace nudged Will with a smirk on his face.

"Hand it over, Magic Mike." Will rolled his eyes and placed a golden coin in Solace's hand. A bunch of blonde kids came and swarmed around Lauren. Soon, they were gone, pushing her towards one of the cabins.

"Ugh," Solace mumbled, "Athena kids."

Two young boys began making their way towards us. As they got closer, I could hear their arguing.

"Leo was out all night last night and didn't show this morning, and he said I would be in charge next time he did this! So I'm in charge!" the boy with the glasses snapped.

"No, he said _I _would be in charge! You were in charge last time!" the tall one with blonde hair whined.

"That's Bennett and Jonathan DeMarco. Sons of Hephaestus. Their cabin leader, Leo Valdez, is always out doing who knows what. So, these two always argue. They are probably the hardest to talk to in the whole camp." Will mumbled in my ear. I was starting to like how Will narrated things for me.

"Hey! Will!" the one with the glasses said, "Newbie?" looking at me.

Will nodded. "Yes, Jonathan, this is Ava. She's one of the new recruits."

The tall one, apparently Bennett DeMarco, looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Noob." he whispered.

Jonathan laughed. "Yeah, sorry about him. He likes his dramatic flair. But, hi Ava." he shook my hand. A little too hard.

Suddenly, a person came sprinting from the trees. He almost appeared to be on fire.

"I'VE DONE IT, I'VE DONE IT!" he screamed. He ran over and nearly tackled Bennett.

The boy, or should I say man, had curly black hair and pointy ears. He was like a latino elf. He looked about 19 or 20. His brown eyes looked wild and completely mad. He was covered in grease from machinery.

"Um, done what, Leo?" Gabriel said as Leo noogied his head.

"Found another way to Calypso, of course!" And with that, he kissed the top of Bennett's head and sprinted back into the forest, whooping and hollering.

"Um.." I said skeptically.

Will cleared his throat. "Yeah, that's Leo. He's was in the group of seven that defeated Gaea and stopped a war. Long story. Ever since, he's been going crazy trying to get back to Calypso, who he loves, but there is no way he can get back. About a year ago, he was pretty sure he found a way, but when he came back...he...fell off the deep end. So, he hasn't been the same."

"So," I said, "He's a mad 20-year-old trying to find his way back to the girl he loves." It was so sad and pathetic, I felt my heart throb.

"Pretty much." Will said glumly.

"Seven, you say? What happened to them?" I asked.

"Well, Percy and Nico moved out to an apartment in New York City. I think they are engaged? They come to visit every so often. Hazel and Frank went back to the Roman camp, Camp Jupiter, in California. Jason and Piper are here, and they are in charge of a lot of stuff. They mainly stayed because of Leo, though." he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmm." I nodded. Will grabbed my hand. "Let's go to the Big House. We got some people to meet."


	4. Chapter 4

The Big House was definitely...big. I heard Elliot gasp.

"What is it, Elliot?" I asked.

"N..nothing. I just...a dream...and…" Elliot's speech wavered off. I shrugged my shoulders.

Will walked up the stairs. The others followed. I sprinted up the stairs, nervous about what I would find inside. I crashed through the door, and startled the people inside. Solace yipped, and Elliot slipped off the arm rest.

The room was large, big enough to fit 20 people or more. As soon as I walked in, my head was filled with a weird sounds and gibberish. Almost like ancient Greek.

"And here's Ava." Will said with his arms folded across his chest. A woman with her brown hair in a braid looked at me with a hint of kindness.

"Hey, Ava. I'm Piper. And this is Jason," she said, gesturing to a tall, blonde man in the corner. "My boyfriend." she added. They grinned at each other.

Solace rolled his eyes.

Lauren walked in, accompanied by another blonde kid.

"And we are all here," Chiron rolled to the center of the room. I looked over at Ewen. She caught my eye and tilted her head. I raised my eyebrows. She just stared at me.

"-and Solace," I just noticed Chiron was talking, "We need to know their godly parents as soon as possible. We can't wait for them to be claimed. Do you have anys predictions?"

Solace straightened up. "Well, we know Lauren is Athena. Elliott, we just might to put him in the Hermes cabin until we find out for certain. The other two...I'm not quite sure."

Ewen cleared her throat. "Um, Ava is Apollo. She has a gift that proves it. She can hear music people are listening to in her head. So, yeah. Apollo."

Everyone glanced at me curiously. Solace's face fell. Will kicked his shin, and Solace slowly placed a golden coin in his hand. "Damn." he mumbled.

"And what about you?" Jason asked skeptically.

"Oh, I know who I am. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a cabin to enjoy." and she walked out of the Big House.

Everyone was silent, wide-eyed.

"Well then," Chiron said, "that about concludes it. Please be at dinner in five. Oh, and Will, please go remind Ewen of dinner." And with that, we left the Big House.

"This is the Apollo cabin." Solace said glumly. "I'm the cabin leader, so you do what I say."

Solace had been acting weird ever since he found out I was Apollo. Well, we weren't completely sure, but whatever.

When we opened the door, it got silent in the cabin. It was full of kids of all ages. The cabin was huge, and countless bunks lined the walls.

"Newbie?" someone whispered.

"Yes," Solace said, "and dinner is in five." Solace shoved me into the crowd. One girl, who I think was named Jane, showed me my bunk. I lay there for the remaining five minutes, and then we were hustled to dinner.

Dinner was in a big pavilion. It was full of demigods of all ages. I was supposed to sit with the other Apollo kids, but I went and sat with Ewen. She was sitting with two boys; Fernando and Greg, who I was introduced to earlier.

"Hey." I said as I sat down.

"Hey," Greg said. He was fiddling with a stack of cards. "Is this your card?" he held up a queen of hearts for Ewen to see.

"Uh, no. Try harder." Ewen said without looking up.

"UGH." Greg threw the cards down.

Ewen sniffed. "Don't worry. The first time I shadow-traveled, I landed in Iceland. Which was 2,000 miles off my desired destination."

Greg laughed, "Did you pass out? Cause that would have been awkward."

"Yes, and I didn't know the language, to make it worse." Ewen grinned.

"Well, I accidentaly set off a fireball in Vegas." Greg said.

I lauged at how the two were trying to outdo each other.

At the front end of the long table, someone called for attention.

"Good evening! We would like to welcome our newest demigods, Elliott , Lauren, Ewen, and Ava, to Camp Half-Blood!" Chiron boomed. There was a round of applause.

A demigod stood up and shouted, "And three cheers for Will and Solace for not screwing up this time!" There were whoops and hollers and slaps on the back.

"Oh, and there is no bonfire tonight." Chiron said. Complains and groans filled the air.

Dinner was pretty uneventful. At the end, the demigods stood up and put part of their meal in altars.

Fernando looked at me. "Yeah, we give an offering to our godly parents. You don't have to since you just showed up." I nodded and followed him and Ewen towards the cabin.

"Hey, Ewen," I spoke up, "You mentioned something about "shadow-travel"? What is that? Is that part if your demigod powers, or something? What are you any way?"

Ewen turned around and looked at me. "Hmm...you _do_ ask a lot of questions." she raised her eyebrows. "You aren't an Athena child, but you seem to have enough brain to know a little something. What type of demigod do _you _think could shadow-travel?"

"Um..I…" I sputtered.

"Oh, and you can ask the Greggles for help." Ewen glanced at Greg.

I looked at him. He just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Hades, Ava, she's a child of Hades."

Ewen laughed, "And fantastic, aren't I?"

Fernando chuckled.

"Who do you guys know each other?" I asked.

"We uh-" Greg started.

"We were friends in the past." Ewen cut him off. I began to wonder if she was keeping things from me.

It was the middle of the night. I was tossing and turning in my bunk in the Apollo cabin. Snors filled the air, which kept me up. Suddenly, Solace jolted up from his bunk across the room with a gasp.

"_Lauren MacArthur, Avalon Peters, Elliott Moore, William Simms, Gabriel Noviak, and Ewen._" he said in a low voice. I shot up. He said my real name. _In his sleep_.

" _Shall go and infiltrate Camp Jupiter, and make peace._" and he collapsed back on his bed.


	5. Chapter 5

"Will? Is this true?" Chiron asked from the head of the table.

It was early the next morning. All of the cabin leaders were gathered in the Big House. I had woken Solace, and we gathered the people whose names were spoken by Solace, and the cabin leaders, for a meeting about Solace's prophecy. Solace was not as freaked out as I would of thought, almost as if this had happened before.

"I've already told you, Chiron, I don't remember anything." Solace rubbed his tired eyes. "Whatever Ava said is whatever happened."

Chiron only nodded.

The leader of the Hermes cabin spoke up, "So Camp Jupiter wants war again or something?"

"But I thought we made a truce five years ago." the Demeter cabin leader said.

"We did." Jason grumbled from his seat next to Chiron.

Piper leaned forward in her chair. "But I don't understand what they would want?"

"There's nothing they would want." Jason seemed as if to be talking to himself.

"I say we do war!" the Ares cabin leader hollered.

"Oh, shut up, Nick." Will waved him off.

"Solace said that the six of us would go and make peace…" Lauren added.

"But I don't understand _why _we need to make peace!' Jason slammed his fists on the table. "I need to be there, we need to talk to Hazel and Frank, I need to see Reyna, I need...I need…"

"Whoa there, big boy," Piper rubbed his arm.

Again Solace rolled his eyes.

Chiron shifted in his wheelchair. "I presume you six should go and see about this, but I really don't want to do an unnecessary quest…"

"Chiron, this quest seems pretty necessary." Solace said.

"Yeah, we can go and check this out," Will added.

"It might be easier just to Iris-message Frank and Hazel first." Piper said, still rubbing Jason's arm.

Jason stood up. He was still pretty out of it. "Yes, we'll do that. Be right back." he grabbed Piper's arm and they walked out of the room.

We sat in an awkward silence. Leo was still in the forest doing whatever he does, so Bennett came in his place. All the cabin leaders were at least over 15. I drummed my fingers on the table.

Jason and Piper burst through the door, wide-eyed. "They didn't answer." Jason said, exasperated.

Nervous whispers filled the room. The tension grew higher.

"What do we do?" the girl from the Demeter cabin said.

"We get our revenge!" the girl from the Nemesis cabin cried.

"For what?!" the boy from the Athena exclaimed, "Come on, guys, we can't just rush into this. We need to form a plan-"

"STUFF IT, SMARTY!" Nick from the Ares cabin hollered.

"SHUT UP!" Solace yelled and slammed his hands on the table. "The prophecy said we need to go to Camp Jupiter. Remember last time we didn't listen to a prophecy?"

That shut everyone up. They all looked down at the table, ashamed of themselves. I didn't know what happened, and I really didn't want to.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Yes. You six should probably go. But you will need a chaperone-"

Solace raised his hand. "I'll go with them."

"But Will, last time you went on a quest…"

"It'll be fine, Chiron." Solace showed no emotion.

"Ok, then. But, we still have no way to get you there fast enough. It would take weeks."

Ewen cleared her throat. "Yes, hi. I can shadow-travel. I can take the seven us. But I would have to take two trips."

"Well, then, this is convenient. I'm not even going to question the fact you can shadow-travel. You should leave as soon as possible." Chiron leaned back in his wheelchair. "But first, Solace, make sure they have weapons."

Solace stood up. "Ok kiddies. Pack your bags. Meet me here in twenty."

Twenty minutes later, we stood on the porch of the Big House. Solace, Ewen, and Garrett hadn't shown up yet. I was wearing my hair back in a bun, which I rarely do. Lauren and Elliot were sitting on rocking chairs, and I sat on the steps. Will leaned on the railing. He saw me, and slowly sat down next to me.

"Hey," he said as he sat down.

"Hey." I said.

We sat there for a while. Will wringed his hands, and I fiddled with my charm bracelet.

"Hey, Will, how did you know I would be in that music store?" I turned my head towards him.

He leaned back with a sigh. "We've been trying to find you five for the last couple of weeks. Solace had one of the night prophecies about you. It's kinda complicated. But, Chiron was able to find you. Thank the gods all of you were in New York." he smirked.

"So," I rolled my neck. "You ran into me and spilled your coffee on purpose?"

"Actually, I had no idea you would even be in that store. We just knew you were in that shopping center. I just wanted a coffee. I would have had to search that whole strip mall if it wasn't for my ferocious coffee cravings."

I giggled, "Thank god for that cup of coffee."

Will smiled. His whole face lit up, and smile lines crinkled near his eyes.

"I should drink coffee more often. It guides me to such beautiful things."

We locked eyes. My heart was beating like a drum. I began to worry Will could hear it.

"You know," he mumbled, still keeping eye contact, "You should wear your hair back more often. It looks really pretty and brings out your eyes."

I just blinked. His purple eyes were so beautiful. I have never seen anything like them.

Ewen, Garrett, and Solace walked up. We quickly broke eye contact.

As they walked up the steps, I could hear Ewen whisper to me, "_I ship it._" I blushed furiously.

"Alrighty," Solace clapped his hands together, "I got weapons. You, obviously, don't get a choice in what you get. So, suck it up and kill monsters."

Solace opened a large duffle bag, and pulled out a double-bladed sword.

"This is for you brother." he said as he handed it to Elliott. Elliott grabbed it, wide-eyed.

"Be sure not to kill yourself in the process." Solace said as he leaned down to grab something else.

He pulled out a golden knife and gave it the Lauren. Then, he pulled out a simple silver sword and handed it to me. I had no idea how to use a sword. I hoped I wouldn't kill myself too early off.

Solace looked at Garrett and Will. "And you two already have a weapon…" his eyes drifted to Ewen. "And you…"

Ewen twisted the ring on her finger. "Yes, I have a weapon."

Solace straightened up and grinned. "Well, that about covers it. I apologize that you do not get training, but we just don't have time. Let's hit the road."

Ewen cleared her throat. "Where, exactly, am I taking you?"

Will stood up. "San Francisco." He gave me his hand and pulled me up.

"Ok then." Ewen said, "We are going to have to take two separate trips. I'm going to take the girls and Solace first. Come close."

Lauren, Solace, and I gathered around Ewen. We all grabbed hands.

"Here we go." Ewen said.

Suddenly, everything went dark. It got freezing cold, and it felt like my skin was peeling off. It was over as soon as it started. When I opened my eyes, we were no longer at Camp Half-Blood. We were in the middle of the woods. Tree soared tall, and birds chirped. I could hear honking cars in the distance.

"Blimey." Ewen moaned. She held her forehead and lost her footing.

"Woah, Ewen, you ok?" Lauren asked, concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine. Be right back." she disappeared into the shadows.

"Are we in California?" Lauren asked. She looked queasy.

"Yep." Solace rubbed the back of his head.

Ewen appeared, with Will, Elliot, and Garrett. Ewen stumbled and groaned.

"Blimey, blimey, blimey." Ewen seemed to have a slight British accent when she was hurt.

Garrett caught her. He held her shoulders and straightened her. He mumbled something in her ear. She nodded, exasperated.

Will cleared his throat. "Ok, let's set up camp."

And so we did. By the time we finished, it was nearly dark.

Solace stretched his back. "Ok children, we have time to spare. What shall we do?"

No one said anything.

"Ok then," Solace wringed his hands. "Let's play Truth or Dare!"

"Come on, Solace! That's lame." Will complained.

"Shut up. We're playing." No one wanted to argue with Solace, so we all sat down to play.

"Ok Lauren, truth or dare?" he asked, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Um, dare." Lauren said.

"I want you...to kiss...Ellie." he had a devious smile played across his face

"Solace, come on. That isn't-" Will was cut off when Lauren leaned over and kissed Elliot. Elliot was as shocked as the rest of us. His eyes were wide when they broke apart. They both blushed.

Lauren smirked awkwardly. "Ok, uh, Garrett. Truth or dare?"

Garrett wrapped his arm around Ewen's waist. "Truth."

"Alright...why are your eyes purple?"

"Well, my mom is Hecate. She's the goddess of magic. It's an acquired characteristic. It's kinda like...um...a "sign" of the fact we can do magic. If you know what I mean."

Lauren nodded her head.

Garrett looked at Ewen. Ewen whispered something in his ear. A devilish grin swept across his face.

"Ava. Truth. Or. Dare."

"Um, dare?" I answered skeptically.

"I dare you to hold hands with Will for the rest of the game."

I looked at Will, and he looked at me. His cheeks got red, and I felt mine getting warm.

I smiled at Garrett. "Alright." I grabbed Will's hand. He squeezed my hand, and I blushed even more.

"Ok, Garrett, truth or dare." I sputtered, my stomach full of butterflies.

"Truth."

"Well, how do you and Ewen know each other? Tell me about Budapest." I winked at Ewen.

"We met in Las Vegas. We joined forces to kill monsters, and we got to know each other. When we arrived at camp, Ewen left the first day she got there. And I hadn't seen her since. Until now. She left this."

Garrett pulls out a folded note card from his pocket and hands it to me. It looked as if it had been opened multiple times. I struggled as I tried to open it with one hand. Will used his other hand to help me. Thank god he had the decency not to read it.

Scribbled across the card was a note. It read:

"_To be continued._

_Love, Ewen_

_PS: Don't fret my love. I'll be back. This note is my promise to you. Raise a little hell for me, will ya?"_

I smiled and folded it back up. I handed it back to him. Ewen looked at him.

"You've kept it? All this time?"

Garrett only smiled. "I raised some hell, love, don't worry."

Ewen smiled. Her eyes drifted to us.

"Alright, time for bed. I banish you all to sleep!" Which we did.

Will told me yesterday that half-bloods have crazy dreams. He was right.

First, some ratchet centaur was yelling at Chiron. I never thought a centaur could be "ratchet". Hm.

The dream shifted to a field in Kansas, I think. Storm clouds rumbled overhead. I saw a much younger Solace, maybe 17, and a girl around the same age fighting a large monster. A hydra, I think. One head swooped down and scratched the girl across her stomach. The cut went fatally deep. Solace stabbed the creature, and it turned to golden dust. Solace turned around, proud of his accomplishment, and he saw the girl, clutching her bleeding stomach. He screamed, "_WHITNEY!_" and ran towards her. He held her in his arms, tears streaming down his face.

"_Whitney, I...I-_" he sputtered.

"_Will. It's not your fault. It's not your fault." _she was gasping for breath now.

"_I love you so much…._" he was crying hard.

"_Look at the stars, Will._" Solace looked up. The clouds had parted ever so slightly, and one star was visible.

"_I see them, Whitney._" He looked back down at her.

"_I love you Will Solace._" one tear slipped from her eye. She took her final breath, and the light in her eyes faded.

"_No...no…_" Solace became frantic again. It began pouring down rain. Solace turned his head upward and screamed. He screamed a scream so loud, so full of pain.

I jolted awake, covered in sweat. I sat up, and remembered where I was. I saw Will laying in his sleeping bag a few feet away. I finally caught my breath. I layed back down, attempting to fall asleep, but the scream of Will Solace was still ringing in my ears.


	6. Chapter 6

"Rise and shine, campers!" Solace's voice cut through my sleep. Next to me, Elliott moaned. My eyes slowly opened. The sky was a gray mess, and I heard thunder in the distance. I sat up, and my eyes fell on Solace. Guilt hit me hard in the chest.

"Morning." Will rubbed his eyes, his hair sticking up in all directions.

"Morning." Solace said flatly, as he slapped Will's back. Will groaned.

"Pack up, kiddies, we've got a big day ahead." Solace had already packed up all his things. He had on a green t-shirt and khaki pants. His black Vans were old and worn. We began pulling our stuff together, still half asleep. I glanced at Ewen. She rolled up her sleeping bag with wide eyes. Surprisingly, her black hair lacked any sign of a bed-head.

More thunder. Lauren looked up at the sky, her blue eyes full of concern.

"Um...guys? It looks like it's about to storm." she said.

"Yeah, so?" Solace raised his eyebrows at her. Lauren scoffed, obviously annoyed.

Ewen walked over to me. She was wearing all black. "How old are you?" she asked peculiarly.

I looked at her. "Sixteen. Why? Aren't we all sixteen? Except for Solace?" When I said his name, my voice caught in my throat. I blushed. She would know something was up.

Ewen titled her head. "Hm...Solace, eh? I thought you were into that Will fellow."

"Shut up," I frowned. "And no, he's my brother, damn it."

Ewen grinned. "You know, that Will does seem to have some sort of affection for yo-"

"Ewen, honestly, just shut up." I cut her off.

"My, my. Aren't we touchy today. Sleep well?" she said that with a sarcastic tone. Yep. She knew.

"Fine, Ewen, it's obvious you know." she looked up at me.

"Know what?" she asked innocently.

"About the dream." I was starting to feel frustrated. I looked down at my red Chuck Taylors.

"Oh, that obvious? And I had just begun my pestering…"

I rolled my eyes at her nonsense. "Just, how did you know?"

"You mumble in your sleep, love. And I had a dream, too. I believe about the same thing." Her eyes drifted to Solace, who talking with Will off to the side.

I looked at back at Ewen. "You dreamed about-"

"About the tragic death of Whitney Crossings, daughter of Hermes, the love of Solace's life? Then, yes."

"You seem to know a lot about her." I raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. "Yes, child of Hades perks."

We both slowly looked at Solace. He caught our eyes, and made a face that definitely wasn't showing any sign of heartache. We slowly looked away, awkwardly.

"Well then." I said, shoving my hands into the pockets of the blue jeans. They were covered in paint, doodles, and marker. My step dad loved to complain about them.

Ewen sighed, "See ya." She walked over to Garrett.

I snatched my leather jacket off the ground and pulled it on. I yanked my hair out of its day-old bun. It fell across my shoulders in brown curls. We were going to Camp Jupiter today. A camp full of Roman demigods. I was praying we wouldn't get killed in the first ten minutes.

I was wrong. First ten seconds. We tried sneaking up on the camp. We made it through this long tunnel that went all the way from the highway to a river. When we got to the river, things got more complicated.

Suddenly, something blew up in our faces.

"Stop! YOU'RE TRESPASSING! I WILL NOT ALLOW ANY MORE GREEKS IN MY CAMP!" A statue of half a man without any arms was screaming at us. I jumped back in surprise. The statue's blank eyes were staring at me.

Will stepped forward. "Woah, calm down…um...sir. We aren't here to cause any trouble-"

"Well, if you were, I would have to kill you!" The statue said angrily.

Garrett cleared his throat. "Um, sorry, but with what?"

I smirked. Ewen clucked her tongue.

The statue's stone face snarled.

"You..you...greeks! I am a god! How dare you-"

"TERMINUS!" a young girl was walking towards us. She looked about eighteen. Her skin was dark, and hair was extremely curly.

"Ah, Hazel.." the statue, Terminus, stumbled over words.

"What did I tell you about yelling at guests?" Hazel put her hands on her hips. She was talking to this god like a child.

"To not to. But, Hazel, they're _greeks_!"

"And what does that matter? Let them in." Hazel stood her ground.

"But..but.."

"_Terminus, _" Hazel said in threatening tone.

"Fine." If Terminus had any hands, he would've thrown them up in exasperation. "I don't give a crap about what these..._greeks_ do to my camp." he disappeared.

"Sorry about that," Hazel sighed. "He's very protective, you could say."

Garrett scoffed. Ewen chuckled.

"Yeah, hi, I'm Will Simms, and that's Will Solace. Also Ava, Elliott, Garrett, and Lauren. We're from Camp Half-Blood. And you're Hazel, I'm guessing?" Will spoke up.

"Yeah. Did Jason and Piper send you, by any chance?"

"Yes. We think something is going on." Solace spoke up.

Hazel glanced behind her, as if making sure no one was there. "Oh, something is definitely going on."

"Are you guys are ok? You didn't answer the Iris message." Will shuffled his feet.

"We...we can't talk about this here. Come on, I'm gonna take you into camp." She walked away, and we followed.

We arrived at a very melancholy looking temple. It was made of grey stone, and looked completely untouched. I saw Ewen gasp. This girl definitely knew too much.

"Temple of Pluto. My father. No one ever comes here. Perfect place to talk." Hazel readjusted her jacket and walked inside.

"Pluto," I said, turning towards Ewen. "Isn't that the Roman equivalent to Hades or something?"

"Yes. And both are widely unpopular." Ewen followed the rest of the seven inside.

Once we were all inside, Hazel shut the temple doors. Thunder rumbled, closer this time.

"Ok, something is going on here. Our head praetor, Reyna has been acting extremely odd for the past few weeks. She's locked down the camp, refusing any contact from outside. Including Iris messages. We don't really have a say in what's going on. My boyfriend is a praetor, and he is completely powerless. So, yeah, we'd like some help." Hazel spoke calmly.

"So, your camp leader is acting strange. As in, how strange?" Solace sat down on the floor.

"More brutal, angry, stuff like that. Not reasonable. Different." Hazel glanced at the doors.

Garrett spoke up, "We were supposed to make peace or something with you guys. Does that really mean anything-"

"Um...yeah…" Hazel looked at the door intently. The doors suddenly banged open. A skinny boy dressed in black walked towards us.

"Hazel. And Ewen, my I haven't heard from you in a while." the boy said in a nonchalant voice.

"Nico. Nice to see you, too." Ewen said without looking at him.

I was seriously done with this chick. She knew freaking _everything_.

Lauren looked at Hazel like she was trying to wrap her head around all of this. "So Reyna has been acting strange recently? Could one of the Gods have had something to do with this?"

Hazel just stared at Lauren. "You are a genius, we need to go visit Octavian."

"Great, I haven't seen my big bro in a while. Just wait until you meet him Ava, he's about as cheerie as the ghost king and queen over there." Solace said to me with a wink.

"I WILL HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GRAECOUS!" My Roman brother was...interesting, to say the least. When we found him, he was sacrificing teddy bears with a crazed look in his eye. He was refusing to even talk to us. This was definitely not Camp Half-Blood.

"Octi, our dad, Apollo, is the same whether he's Roman or Greek. We're brothers and brothers are supposed to help eachother. Now listen, there has been a lot of strange things going on. Have you gotten any visions or dreams?"

"Solace, doesn't your camp have an oracle? Why did you need to come to New Rome for this?"

Will decided to speak up. "Listen, we were sent here because Solace had a dream. There has to be an explanation for why we're here."

Elliot looked at Octavian and said, "Don't you think that we wouldn't be here if we could have gotten the answer from Rachel? Now what the in the name of Hades is going on here?"

Ewen looked over at the Nico kid, whom I'm guessing was her brother, and said, "Care to explain, or shall I?"

"You do the honors." Nico grinned smugly.

"Well, we obviously don't know anything for certain, but I'm pretty sure that we're dealing with a god or goddess. Who is Reyna's godly parent?"

"Bellona, but what's that got to do with anything?" Octavian straightened up. I could tell he was starting to gain some interest now.

"Hm...it's just that Bellona could possibly get access to and use Reyna. Now I'm willing to bet money that you know something, some big prophecy that will tell us what's going on. So go ahead, Octavian, spill it."

Wow. Again this girl knew _everything_. I'm surprised that she isn't a child of Athena.

"Damn Ewen, you're almost more persuasive than Piper's charmspeak." Solace grumbled. That struck a chord in me. Now I knew why he flirted so much. He used it to cope after Whitney's death. Ewen knew it too.

"There was something, but why would I be telling you Greeks. How do I know that you don't plan on attacking the camp?" Octavian scoffed.

"Octavian, do not make me call Jason." Ewen said sharply. Why would she threaten him with Jason?

As if he read my mind, Will leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Jason is the only one able to keep him in line besides Reyna, and she's out of commision right now as you know."

Octavian seemed to give up.

**A group of seven shall gather again**

**Although they will lose a very dear friend**

**For a child of Apollo shall meet their end**

**The Roman Goddess shall live in fear **

**For she shall know her end is near**

"That's all that there was, I promise."

"Oh, I believe you. I think that we should assess each line. Try to figure out it's meaning. I think that this is a job for a child of Athena. Lauren, lead the way." Ewen gave Lauren the metaphorical spotlight.

Lauren looked very smug as she gave us her theories. "Well, obviously we are the seven. They are saying that a child of Apollo will die, and since it said "friend" that means that it's going to be one of us. I agree with Ewen that the Roman Goddess is most likely Bellona. So she must be planning an attack or something if she knows that we may be her downfall."

Ewen smiled. "Couldn't have said it better myself. Now as for children of Apollo its either going to be Solace, Octavian, or Ava. My vote is for Mr. Crabby Cakes over there."

Oh god. I'm in a prophecy about death. I really didn't understand what this meant, but I understand I had a ⅓ chance of survival. Hold on...what was Ewen doing? Holy crap, she was hugging me. The ghost queen was hugging me.

"Someone needs to either get Ava a shock blanket, or Will please comfort her." Ewen had such a smug look on her face. The others just looked at her.

"Ewen," I whispered, "Why, exactly, are you hugging me?"

"You're in shock." She whispered back.

"Come on, you two. We have to go to mess hall and scout out our potential goddess." Garrett was grabbing Ewen by the arm. He repositioned his arm around her waist and continued to walk. Everyone slowly followed them, making their way towards the dining area.

Will and I walked slightly behind the others. As we walked, he nudged my shoulder. He leaned down towards me ear.

"_I won't let it be you_." He grabbed my hand. I blushed. Rain began falling on us as we made our way towards the mess hall. I could get used to this.


	7. Chapter 7

Will almost got hit by a flying piece of pizza. Hazel chuckled.

"Yep. Sorry about that. Our food is served by wind spirits, and they don't really have a sense of direction." she said.

The loud echoes of conversation came to a halt as we entered. The large cafeteria was filled with campers in purple shirts. They all turned to look at us.

Octavian scoffed. "Nice crowd," he mumbled.

Hazel cleared her throat. Her voice echoed in the quiet room. "Ah, yeah. Hey, guys. So these are campers from Camp Half-Blood. They're here...um, they're here because-"

"Greek campers, huh?" Hazel was cut off by a voice from the back of the room. A girl, around of the age of twenty, stood up. Her long dark hair was braided, and she wore a white toga. She looked extremely threatening.

"Yes, uh, Greeks." Hazel looked down awkwardly.

"Ah," the girl walked towards us. "How nice. Hello, I'm Reyna."

So this was Reyna. We all shifted awkwardly, avoiding her eyes.

Solace cleared his throat and stuck out his hand. "Solace. Will Solace. Nice to meet you."

Reyna just looked at his out-stretched hand. She walked over to Hazel.

"Yes, Hazel. Just how, don't mind me asking this, how did they get in here?" she spoke in such a sweet, yet absolutely terrifying voice. Hazel shrunk under her glare.

Hazel stammered, "Um, well, um…"

Suddenly, the doors behind us banged open. A young chinese man came strutting in, and walked up to Reyna.

"Frank…" Hazel whimpered.

"Reyna," the man, Frank, said, "does it honestly matter how they got in?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes. "Frank. Don't I outrank you?"

Frank stood his ground. "Well, we are both praetors. So, I get a say. Roman law." Frank shrugged his shoulders. "So, I suggest you let this one go."

Reyna and Frank glared at each other. I was afraid they would being seriously fighting. Instead, Reyna blinked.

"Fine. Ok. But just this time, Zhang." she walked away.

We watched as she sauntered off back into the crowd, open-mouthed.

"Well," Elliot said, "She's nice."

Hazel turned around to look at us. "She's not normally like that. She's usually fair and understanding…" Hazel's voice drifted off.

"What she means to say," Frank started. "Is that something is up with Reyna. She cut off all of our connections to the outside world. We're not sure what is up with her."

Solace said, "Do you think it's her-"

"If you say "time of the month", so help me I will kill you." Ewen cut him off.

Solace shrugged. "It's always a possibility."

Hazel glared at him. "Actually, we're pretty sure it's not."

"Well then I suggest that you the boy what you think it is before I show his spine down his esophagus." Ewen said menacingly.

Garrett almost choked on his drink in laughter.

Hazel swallowed. "We're thinking that she may be possessed…"

"Uh, a little too "Supernatural", love." Ewen sighed. "You believe that a Goddess is using her body, correct? It would make sense if Bellona was using her though. High-ranking Roman praetor, her daughter making her easier to manipulate, the facts do seem to add up. Frank?"

Frank was sitting there slack jawed staring at Ewen in disbelief.

"Darling, if you don't close your mouth soon a fly will go in." Ewen said with a smirk.

I was about to strangle her. And by the look of Frank's face, he was too.

Frank stood up. "Uh, that would make sense, but it's a little out there."

"Considering that the Greek and Roman Gods are real, I don't really believe that it's that far fetched dear."

Nico was actually having to contain a smile at his sister's remarks, whereas Frank was trying to contain his rage.

"The Hades child does have a point." Lauren spoke up.

"You didn't tell me you had a sister Hazel." Frank said looking at said girl.

"Listen here Chinese baby man, we do not speak of our counterpart's siblings. Also, we especially do not speak of sisters. *looks away sadly* There used to be two of us."

"Ewen that's enough." Hazel said looking at Nico.

"It's a reality Hazel. You of all people should know that. Besides, brother still dreams of his sea prince."

Nico was actually blushing. "We don't talk about it sis. And I've given up on him-"

"Halt die klappe, Nico. Now back to the subject at hand. We need to figure out why Bellona is using Reyna. She has to be planning something." Ewen said.

I leaned against the wall with a huff. These people were really at it. The big room was nearly empty, except for a boy holding a goblet filled to the rim with red Kool-Aid. He blinked at me, then stood up and left.

The whole "possessed by a goddess" idea sounded pretty improbable to me. Ewen and Frank continued to argue, and it seemed like we were getting no where. Something was up with this camp.

It got eerily quiet. All the noise from outside had silenced. The demigods slowly stopped talking, and looked around.

Will looked at me. "Did it just get quiet?"

Hazel glanced around. "You can usually hear all the campers talking…"

Hazel was cut off by a distant scream. Everyone defensively grabbed their weapons that Solace had given us earlier.

Suddenly, a huge chunk from the ceiling was ripped off. The rain poured down into the room, drenching us. We then could hear the chinks of armor and the screams of fallen demigods. A gianormous cyclops loomed over us, holding the chunk of ceiling in his hand.

Frank loaded an arrow and shot it directly into the cyclops' eye. It howled in pain, and fell over. We rushed out of the building, entering the battleground.


	8. Chapter 8

Everything was a blur. We had just been eating as a group and now we were running for our lives. Am I going to be the dead child of Apollo?

"Come on Avalon, no time to wonder if you live or die. We need to get to a stronghold." Ewen yelled as she unsheathed her sword from her ring.

I didn't have time to question the fact she knew what I was thinking. Or how a sword just appeared from her ring. I sprinted to join the demigods up ahead.

Monsters were flooding the hills of Camp Jupiter. They appeared completely out of nowhere. The Roman demigods were fighting without cease, but the monsters weren't letting up.

"To the temples!" Hazel yelled as Frank morphed into a dragon beside her. He flew off towards the heat of the battle.

We ran in the pouring rain, surrounded by the sounds of battle. I tried to ignore the burning in my chest.

We arrived at a temple I hadn't seen before. It was much smaller than the others. Solace threw open the doors, and we hurried inside. The doors shut with a bang.

Octavian collapsed on the floor. Everyone was wet and out of breath.

"How the Hades did they get in?!" Hazel cried between gasps for breath.

I looked at Will. His black hair was plastered to his forehead, and his eyes were dark.

"It doesn't matter how they got in. We need to defend the camp. There's a war looming." he said solemnly.

Hazel looked at him. "A war?" Will only nodded.

Suddenly, the torches lit in the temple blew out. It got dark. A deep rumble of laughter echoed through the temple.

Nico looked at Hazel. "Hazel, whose temple are we in?"

Hazel blinked. "Um, Janus, I think?"

I heard Solace gasp. The laughter got louder, and it sounded almost as if two people were laughing.

"Janus, that's right!" a voice said. A figure formed out of the shadows. I had to do a double-take because the figure appeared to have two faces.

"The god of beginnings and transitions." one face said with a grin.

"Gates and doorways!" the other exclaimed.

"And what are you doing in my temple?"

Hazel stammered, "Oh-uh Lord Janus! We're...uh-"

"We're taking shelter from the battle outside." Octavian finished.

"But why would you do that?" one face asked.

Octavian remained expressionless. "We need to discuss a plan of attack-"

"You already have a plan. Attack." Janus said in unision.

"But we don't know how the monsters got in," Hazel said, "I mean, it's highly improbable-"

"That's an easy one!" one face said.

"It's the Bellona girl!" the other face laughed.

"Wait, what?" Hazel looked at Janus wide-eyed.

"_Reyna _let them in?" Nico exclaimed.

"Ah yes, her." Janus said.

"But she's not Reyna!" one face joked.

"Huh?" Hazel blinked.

"Yes, yes, that Reyna is not the Reyna you know to be!" the face on the right grinned.

"Well, tell us!" Solace roared, with more anger than the situation needed.

"Oh, Will Solace. I remember you." the faces said in unison.

Solace glared at Janus. "And I remember you. How could I forget?" he hissed.

"What did you do Will?" Ewen was looking at him with suspicion, or was that pity?

"Love-" said ugly number one. "Or life." Ugly number two finished him.

Everyone looked at Solace for an explanation. Solace took a deep breath, an expression of misery and hatred on his face.

"They came to me," he started, "They told me I could either choose love or life. I didn't...I didn't understand what they meant...I didn't know that when I chose love over life, I would lose..." Solace couldn't continue.

_Whitney_, I thought.

Everyone looked down at their feet. Ellie, as sympathetic as he was, looked as though he was about to cry. He was clinging onto Lauren for support. Lauren was glaring daggers at the boy.*

"And that's why," Solace spat, "I hate this...this _god_." he hissed the last bit.

"Ah, yes," one face said with a smile, "We remember that well."

Solace's face flushed with anger. "You _tricked_ me-"

"That is not the matter at hand, boy." the face on the left cut him off. "What's important now is this battle, and all the choices here."

Two doorways appeared behind Janus. He gestured to the door on the left.

"You can go through this door," the faces said in unison, "and fight the battle, suffering great losses. No one will come out the same, and what remains will most likely be ruins."

"Or, you can go through this door," Janus said, gesturing to the door on the right, "and leave all of this behind. Continue your normal daily lives, and leave this war to the Romans. Both doors come with consequences, good and bad. It's your choice."

"We fight!" Octavian said quickly.

"Octavian, we need to discuss this as a group," Hazel started.

"What's there to discuss? I mean, we can't just _leave_," Octavian exclaimed.

"I agree with Octavian." I said. Everyone looked at me, because I hadn't spoken at all. "We have to fight. Screw the prophecy, we have a duty to fulfill!"

Everyone looked at me with titled heads. Then a smile began to creep on Ewen's face.

"Screw the prophecy!" she repeated.

Will grabbed my hand. "I say we fight."

Lauren and Elliot slowly nodded their heads, their eyes widening.

Solace looked at me. "Ava, Janus plays tricks. We can't trust him."

"Solace," I said, "it's our only option."

Solace sighed and fiddled with one of his arrows. "Ok. Fine, ok."

Hazel nodded. "Janus, we choose the door on the left."

Janus smiled. "No going back." And with that, the room faded into a blurry mess, taking Janus with it. When I regained my vision, we were on the battlefield again. It was a gory sight. Fallen demigods lay scattered across the field, the rain soaking them. Monsters rampaged, destroying everything in their path. The demigods were fighting back, but they were losing.

Frank the dragon, or he was now a bear, was clawing at a gruesome looking cyclops.

I barely heard Solace over the rain, "_Everyone spread out and kill what you can and try not to die!" _Or at least that's what I thought he said.

Ewen turned and quickly kissed Garrett saying, "See you in Hell." The dashed off with Nico to the hellhounds. I tightened my grip on my sword and ran off with Will towards a cluster of monsters.

I had never touched a sword, let alone fought with one. Yet surprisingly, the whole sword fighting thing can easy to me. My reflexes acted on their own account, and my arms knew how to work the weapon. The battle became a blur of slashing and ducking and killing. Pure adrenaline rushed through me. Will and I killed monster after monster, and I soon lost count.

It seemed like the monsters would never stop coming. I fought with other demigods, most of which were anonymous to me. I was loving the fight.

I sliced the head off a giant snake and glanced behind me. I saw Elliott and Lauren fighting back to back, as if they had fought together a thousand times. Nico and Ewen were killing things left and right, which I guess was natural for them. I couldn't see Solace or Hazel, but I assumed they were okay.

The battle had begun to clear up, as had the rain. I looked around to see if any more monsters were close by, and there were not. I ran over to Elliott and Lauren.

"Are you guys ok?" I said as I ran up. They turned around.

"Yeah, we're ok," Elliott said, "Are you ok? You're bleeding."

"What?" my hand went up to my forehead, and it came back sticky with blood. I guess since I was so into the battle, I hadn't felt any pain.

"Oh!" I said, "but, yeah, I'm ok."

The remaining demigods began to gather around us. Solace walked up to me, his quiver half empty.

"Is that it?" he said as he pushed his wet hair out of his eyes.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess so."

I spoke too soon. A loud crashing noise came from behind the temple of Zeus, I mean, er, Jupiter. The temple began to crumble. Another huge wave of monsters swept over the hill. I heard many demigods gasp. A spell of laughter broke out from behind us. I turned around. There stood Reyna, except her eyes were pure gold. A maniacal grin played across her face.

"_You poor demigods,_" the voice that came out of Reyna's mouth was definitely not her own. "_The battle has only begun!_"

(*Mwahaha.) _  
_


End file.
